Though the third round of the Shell Houston Open golf tournament was somewhat eclipsed by the Final Four on Saturday, it didn’t get any better for diehard golf fans than to have eight of the top 20 golfers in the world competing a week before the Masters.

Under cloudy but substantially less windy conditions than Friday, the crowd was not disappointed as golf scores were low. Phil Mickelson took the lead with a course record of 63, only to be followed by Scott Verplank, who shot a 65 and tied Mickelson at 13-under par. The crowds started to thin out after Mickelson finished in late afternoon, no doubt with basketball on their mind.

With hard-to-beat Mickelson in the final, good weather, and major Final Four corporate hosts with a free day on their hands, officials are expecting big crowds on Sunday.

I had not attended the Houston Shell Open for several years and was curious to see what had changed. Redstone Golf Club started hosting the tournament in 2003, replacing the TPC Woodlands, which had played host for many years. The tournament was initially held in mid April — somewhat anti-climatic so be held so soon after the Masters but too soon for players to prepare for the US Open. In 2007, the tournament was moved to late March/early April with the goal of attracting the world’s best golfers who were seeking a tune up for The Masters, which starts on Monday.

A good move.

 The course

For golfers interested in the technicalities: Tournament organizers have groomed the course to simulate conditions at the Master's Augusta National, where at least 32 players in the Shell Houston Open field will be next week.

The fairways, roughs and greens have been overseeded with rye grass, which results in what is essentially a winter golf course — a rarity in Houston. The fairways are wide and mowed toward the tees, the rough is light, the greenside mounds are shaved and the greens themselves are lightning-fast. Players are calling the Rees Jones-designed course the best conditioned venue on the PGA Tour.

Fred Couples, a U of H alum and fan fave even at age 51, commented, “It’s absolutely immaculate. I don’t think we’ll play a course as good as this all year."

 The clothes

But it's not all about the course. Look no further than the merchandise tent, where sales are up 25 percent over last year, says Redstone vice president of retail operations Vicki Bernstein. While the 4,000-square-foot tent is the same size as last year, it is laid out so that it seems much larger.

In high demand are the brightly colored golf clothes offered by Nike, Oxford golf and newly added Puma. Bernstein said that even those much older than 22-year-old golf sensation Rickie Fowler want the neon oranges and yellows. Bernstein commented that they had run out of stock of many items by Friday afternoon. Golf clothing has changed in the last several years with manufacturers moving to moisture resistant and SPF 30 fabrics.

Children’s golf clothing lines are also booming; the ColorFusion T-shirt is one of the biggest sellers. Children (and their parents as well) are fascinated by the material that changes colors when heat (like a warm hand) is placed on it.

And let’s not neglect to mention the “Bling Bar”, a counter with glittery ball markers, hat clips, divot repair tools, key chains and every other golf accessory imaginable. One of the new hot products this year is “golf dots,” which are USGA decals that can be used to identify your golf ball. In the past you would take a magic marker and place an identifying mark on your ball. Now, you can place a decal of a daisy, a skeleton, or any other of the hundreds of decals being sold in the Merchandise tent.

 Social media

SHO was one of the first PGA tournaments to set up its own twitter account @ShellHouOpen. With nearly 2,200 followers, the tournament tweets throughout the year with updates on the tournament and its many charity initiatives. Maggie McDonald of MMI who manages social media for SHO said the new media policy permitting cell phones on the course has created a sense of excitement as people “tweet” from various holes. But taking photos is strictly prohibited.

Shell Houston Open also has its own Facebook Fan page with over 1,200 fans. Also new this year is the use of Foursquare, which showed 60 log-ins to the tournament by noon on Saturday.

 Skyboxes and villas for VIPS
 

Although corporate tents have been around for decades, the sponsors seemed to have upped the ante to make the surroundings more than just a private restroom and an open bar. I visited the Redstone Villa on the 18th hole. Even if there weren't a golf tournament going on, I would have like to spend an afternoon there.

On the glassed-in, air-conditioned floor of the villa, a buffet for guests is changed out a couple of times a day. There's also a cupcake buffet and flat screen TVs scattered throughout so you never miss a shot. The tablecloths and napkins are changed daily to create a new theme. An open-air area offers chair massages, Café Express famous desserts (Redstone is a business partner) and a wine tasting area.

Even if you aren’t privy to one of the corporate tents, there is a wide variety of good food---think yummy frozen lemonades--- and open places to sit while you eat. There's also a ball fitting tent and booths where you can try out Mattress Firm mattresses, get a haircut and visit the Dupuy Vitek booth to view devices to help those with knee problems.

Golf tournaments succeed or fail for a number of reasons: The course, the date, the players, and people running it. And oh, did I mentioned the details? Houston Shell Open and Redstone Golf seem to have mastered the art of making players, press and spectators feel special. The media center is spacious with good food and location. I spoke with a national golf reporter who said that economic conditions prevent him from covering as many tournaments as he did a few years ago but the Houston tournament stands out.

“They treat the press well, the Shell people are super helpful and the food is some of the best.” He said that only Quail Hollow in Charlotte is better and cited a tournament north of us (Colonial) as having only measly cold cuts for food.

Kim Phillips, vice president of marketing and special projects for Redstone Golf, commented that planning for next year's tournament will start Monday morning. Although the tournament is demanding — she was up at 4 a.m. on Thursday and Friday and got to sleep in until 6 a.m Saturday — “these are the best four days of the year for me seeing all of our planning come together,“ she said.

In line with my pleasant tournament experience, I whisked out of the parking lot — even traffic was under control. What a wonderful day I had at Redstone! It was not until I got home and a friend asked, "How was the golf and who did you follow?" that I realized that in fact, I had followed no one and had spent the entire day exploring the merchandise area, shopping, eating, facebooking my friends about how great the golf tournament was and watching golf on TV from the Villa.

But I sure did have a good time.